Venezuelan Government Rejects Interference of Spanish Right Wing, Announces Investigation of Opposition

Members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) denounced the “arrogant and intolerant” policy of the Spanish Popular Party (PP) this Sunday, after it was discovered that the PP was actively supporting the Venezuelan opposition bloc, the “Roundtable of Democratic Unity” (MUD).

The PSUV made the statement after it was revealed that Dionisio García Carnero, Senator of the PP, had solicited the current Foreign Relations Minister of the ruling Spanish Socialist Worker Party (PSOE) to back the MUD coalition in the upcoming 2012 elections.

It is claimed that García Carnero approached the PSOE party in an attempt to broker a meeting between the Spanish ruling party and a group of MUD delegates who will arrive in Spain in October. Carnero urged the PSOE to “rectify” its policy with regards to Venezuela and to “denounce” the abuses of the democratically elected Chávez government, although the Senator did not provide details of the “abuses” to which he referred.

“The request being made by the Spanish PP to the current government of that country, to intervene and support the MUD, represents a clear violation of the fundamental norms of international cooperation between nations and people. Furthermore, it is an expression of an arrogant and intolerant political stance,” read the PSUV statement.

PSUV Vice-president for the central region of Venezuela, Aristóbulo Istúriz, said the opposition had “lost perspective from an electoral point of view,” and were more aware than ever of their own lifelessness in comparison to president Hugo Chávez.

In further statements, Carnero hinted at the type of policy that would be implemented by the PP if they were to win the November 2011 elections in Spain, stating that the party would pursue an agenda that “denounces populism” in the Latin American region.

MUD to be Investigated

The Venezuelan government has strongly criticised the MUD opposition for trying to bypass Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), which regulates the financing of electoral parties and recently received a score of 85% in electoral fairness from the Canadian based Foundation for Democratic Advancement. The regulatory body states that electoral propaganda cannot be funded from abroad and that only individuals may donate to political parties.

Despite this, it was revealed by U.S. attorney and journalist Eva Golinger last week that the White House had donated US$5 million to the Venezuelan opposition in February of this year, and had set aside another US$15 million for MUD’s 2012 electoral campaign. Golinger also revealed that the Venezuelan opposition had received more than US$100 million from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2002.

Details of a letter sent by the opposition coalition to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations were also revealed this week, provoking further government condemnation for the illicit practices of the opposition bloc. In the letter, the opposition coalition urges the U.S. House of Representatives to reconsider its position on the financing of the Organization of American States (OAS), after the committee voted to withdraw this year’s funding of $48.5 million to the OAS in July this year.

The letter contends that withholding funds from the OAS would compromise the opposition’s political campaign and “complicate the transition to democracy” in Venezuela. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has since demanded an investigation into the Roundtable of Democratic Unity and its connections to sponsors abroad.

“They’ve got a nerve! This must oblige us to act. I’m making a call to state agencies… This gives cause for a judicial and political investigation,” said the Venezuelan president in a live telephone call to state television channel VTV.

“They [MUD] send letters to members of congress abroad, in open violation of the National Constitution. MUD courts one of the most fascist parties in Europe, asking for official support in the next presidential elections, it is essential to report this right now, that bourgeoisie represented by Fedecamaras,” continued the president.

PSUV spokesperson and member of the National Administration, Rodrigo Cabezas, confirmed that the National Assembly had received instructions to investigate all “these actions which attempt to undermine peace and democracy in Venezuela”.